In high school one can see that there are more fans in the stands for a boys basketball game rather than a girls basketball game. Even in the student sections, one will see that more students will attend a boys game than attend a girls. Some will say it's because guys can dunk or guys are more aggressive without realizing that they could also see this at a girls game. There are some females who have the ability to dunk in professional, college and even high school basketball. There are and have been many women's basketball games where it is very intense such as, tied games, double overtime, or a buzzer beater and if you are lucky enough you can get it all in one. All it takes is for a person to take the opportunity to go watch a women's basketball …show more content…
I know this firsthand considering that I have been a female basketball player since I was five years old. I know what it feels like to be stereotyped and treated differently just because I wanted to play the game of basketball. Especially in high school, my team and I would be treated differently when we would play with the boys team. The boys would not want to go as hard because they were afraid of hurting us. I also understand how it feels to have a small fan base and feel under appreciated. At my school our boys basketball team has more fans in their stands than we do at our games. My team and I have made it to Selland Arena and came out as the 2016 Valley Championship runner-ups. We also had a good record and were this year's CMAC Champions and are currently on our way back to valley. Compared to our boys team record of going 0 and 10 in league for two years in a row, the boys still received more fans in the stands for their games than ours. Although, being a female basketball player throughout the years has been rough with all the challenges that were and are being thrown, I would rather deal with all the stereotypes and judgement than not play basketball at
Women have been playing basketball for over a century before the Women's National Basketball Association came into existence. It was here at Smith College where many women got their first taste of the game. Women were described as having a "masculine performance style... rough and vicious play... worse than in men" (Hult 86). This aggressive playing style had to be modified because the violence and rough-housing that was going on were becoming intolerable. Eventually the Official Women's Basketball Rules were modified in that there was no dribbling allowed on the court at all, players were not allowed to make physical contact with each other and women were not allowed to grab the ball out of another women's hands.
Ever since sports has been introduced into our society it has always been gender specific. Today, sports are still gender specific but not as much as before due to the change in social norms. Many people enjoy playing sports. For some it may be the competition, for others it may be for the love of the game. It has been difficult for individuals who enter non-traditional sports for their gender. Women have especially struggled with this matter until the Title 9 was issued. Before Title 9, many women were not allowed to participate in track and other sports that were not considered feminine. During the Victorian Times, women were only allowed to play sports that didn't make them look sweaty, tired or just messy. They had to stick to the norm of being conservative and looking proper. Can you imagine, they had to even wear skirts for baseball and other sports? How can you be comfortable and play well in that kind of an outfit? When it came to tennis, they had to look graceful like a ballerina. The main concern in playing a sport is enjoying it and playing it well. It never had to do anything with being part of a beauty contest. Women were given limitations into what sports they could participate in. However, realistically women were just as good as their counterpart when it came to playing sports in which they were not allowed to play.
Who knew basketball would evolve into this? It just may be the greatest event in sports history.
Messner, showed that women’s sports took up only 6.3% of airtime while men’s took up 91.4 %.(1989,2004,p.4). And the hit show Sportscenter was showing men more than women at an astounding ratio of 20:1 (Messner, 1989, 2004, p.4). Also the coverage and the after game interviews are far less than men. They don’t get enough exposure showcase the talent and entertainment of a women’s game. If a man is highly masculine and highly skilled at what he is doing, he gains that respect and popularity so easily without really doing a thing. For men this brings money, merchandise, media coverage, and fans. More fans means more and more money. Which conclusively brings more success to the franchise, and that’s one example why male professional sports overpower female. Women have an extreme disadvantage when it comes to this because they are not popular in means of sporting events, they don’t have as many fans, don’t have a lot of people to buy the merchandise, and they don’t have the money to treat you with a higher salary. You don’t see contracts in the WNBA like you do in the NBA, for example the salary cap for each team in the WNBA is $878,000, while the NBA is $58 million. (Garland, 2012). That is a huge difference for playing the same sport in the same country. This also goes hand in hand with endorsements. Men make millions and millions extra from endorsements which women don’t usually get. For example, LeBron James at 18 years old signed a deal with NIKE for $90,000,000 just because he was good at basketball, Nike is lucky LeBron wasn’t a bust, but you would never see a company risk that type of money with a female athlete that young. (USAToday.com,
Women are becoming a bigger part of the professional sports world. The number of professional sports for women is growing at a very fast rate. Right now though, the comparison of women's professional sports to men's professional sports still varies greatly. For example, men's professional sports range from wrestling to football to skateboarding. Women on the other hand, do not have the opportunity to participate in these professional sports. But this is changing quickly. Women are beginning to receive the same opportunities in sports as men.
As people look back on the sport of basketball, most would notice it was once six on six instead of five on five. In case someone doesn’t know what basketball is, it is a sport where teams try to advance the ball and shoot it through one basket and to keep the opposition from scoring through the other. Women’s basketball has grown rapidly since the 1970’s. Until then, women and girls had been allowed to play only a six-player game in which offensive and defensive players were rooted to one half of the court (Basketball). It seems completely bizarre to even think about the game with twelve players on the court rather than ten. An abundant amount of things changed when they transitioned into the new system of basketball. Defense, offense, amount
Lots of women were not allowed to play because of their gender. “Passing an entrance exam to morehouse college allowing women to get a good education but can not play on a basketball team” (Davis 3). School’s did not allow women to play because the schools did not think that women are not athletic. “Women were not allowed to play until the 1955 when they let men play” (Davis 4). It is hard for girls because so many people were saying that girls are not athletic as guys are.
For most of human history, athletic competition has been regarded as an exclusively masculine affair. Women weren't aloud to watch most sporting events let alone participate in them. Not till late 19th century did women really begin participating in sporting events. Although women were permitted to participate in many sports, relatively few showed interest, for a variety of social and psychological reasons that are still poorly understood. Title IX declares: "No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, or denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid." Therefore sex should not deem females athletic ability as inferior in comparison to men. Women are physically, mentally, and emotionally capable of playing any sport just as men are.
After the invention of basketball, it started to spark interest in females across the country. Only problem was that the people believed the sport to be a man’s game and was no fit for a woman. When the game was invented, it was modified to man’s needs and wants. It was modified to be an aggressive strategic type of game and apparently wasn’t a fit for women. Although it wasn’t considered a fit for women, they did everything they could to play. Jenkins states that “Women's basketball has come a long way from its humble beginnings in 1892” (Jenkins).
On a more personal level, it has been my observation that up until the junior high level both boys and girls are actively engaged in sports, but once the boys start to get bigger, the adults in the society become apprehensive about allowing mixed gender play. I feel as though society has a tough time embracing the possibility that women might get hurt if they play sports. It is at this point in a student's career that a great division occurs, all of a sudden innocent games become strictly regulated and boys and girls are separated.
.... This problem is not one that can easily be solved. Until everyone, including women, unlearns the stereotypes, which hinder women all around the world, something as simple as women playing sports will not fully be embraced or accepted. The merging of female athletes into male sporting arenas has been a milestone in illustrating women's capabilities, but we are still only partway there. As is illustrated through the submerging of women in the Olympics, women are still not social equals to men.
In summary, Despite opponents argue, fans want to see thunderous dunks and incredible athleticism over the lesser abilities of females, male competitions is more intense and there is more at risk, and male driven associations produce more revenue than female driven associations. It is apparent that male and females are built differently therefore they have different abilities, females go through the same types of events and often have more on the line, and female athletics aren 't given the same recognition or praise. Then, maybe one day female will receive the same amount of pay as their male counterparts. As, Vera Nazarian once implied, “A woman is human. She is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent, more creative, or more responsible than a man. Likewise, she is never less. Equality is a given. A woman is human.”
Way more television sources support and cover the NBA than they do the WNBA. With the money that the NBA gets paid just so these sports reporters can run their stories, they can afford to pay their players more. The WNBA only gets covered by ABC, ESPN2, NBA TV, Lifetime, Oxygen, and NBC, and these stations only run their stories for about 5 minutes where to the NBA they talk about them for hours. When the games are going on you can only view the WNBA regular season games on ESPN, and NBA TV and their finals on ABC (McCullick, 2012), where you can view the NBA regular season games on ESPN, ABC, CBS, NBC, TNT, TBS, and NBA TV (NBA). Even if we could get more sponsors to support the WNBA and more support from the minority community since they are the ones who show the most interest in basketball maybe these women could get a raise in their checks and would not have to have side jobs on the side to live, when their dreams and hard work is not paying them what they deserve to get paid. Half of these women on the court can play basketball just as well as the majority of the men on the court, the only difference that they may have is that the men are more capable of dunking than the women but that does not mean that women cannot do it, because WNBA 's own Candace Parker as known as the female Kevin Durant has proved to everyone that a women can dunk a basketball on multiple occasions during a
Female athletes are just as talented and athletic as boys, maybe even better, and should be able to play on the same teams as their male counterparts. Some of the best sports players are females. They are dedicated to what they do, and they work hard to achieve their goals. Plus, girls are stronger than they look, because looks can be deceiving. (Scholastic Action) Not allowing girls on male team has become a problem to many people in this day and age. They want women and men to have equality.
Ann, 2007, pg. 57), however this is not true. This mentality causes males to resent the female athletes, thus rendering it even more difficult for them to succeed. Without a shift in gender ideology, females will continue to face adversity, regardless of the amount of change that has occurred over the last 30 years. There does not need to be equality between the genders within sports, however equity must be seen, with the perception of the abilities that female athletes possess not being compared to that of males. This would aid males to not feel as threatened by females participating in sports and physical